Meet 7-Year-Old Boy Who Raised More Than $14,000 to Support Hand Cleaning For Flint Children!

The ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan has had devastating effects on the lives of many city residents, including children.

As a result, government agencies, nonprofits, and individuals have come forward to help contain the situation through enormous financial and material support.

Isiah Britt

Not left out is Isiah Britt, a 7-year-old second grader from Gainesville, Virginia. After hearing of the sad conditions that children are living in in the city, and the high number of them falling sick as a result of the contaminated water, he decided to be part of helping the children.

“I told my parents that stuff is bad. I just feel not good inside. And they don’t feel good inside either. And God doesn’t feel good inside,” Britt told ABC 12.

Working together with his parents, they called Eisenhower Elementary School in Flint to ask about their needs. They found out that the school had ample bottled water but lacked enough sanitizers for their students. Britt personally spoke with the Eisenhower’s school secretary, Lisa Palermo, and made a commitment to raise money to purchase sanitizers for the school’s 370 students.

“His voice, his demeanor, everything about him touched my heart,” Palermo told The Washington Post. “I’ve worked with the district over 20 years and I’ve never, the words don’t explain it, he touched my heart to no end.”

After getting the information they needed, Britt and his parents sat down and calculated how much they would need for dispensers and refills for the entire school. They came up with $500. The Huffington Post reports that Britt’s parents helped him set up a GoFundMe page with a target of $500 in early February, and in just two days, that target was met.

Britt’s father Hensely Dougan then reached out to Purell and they agreed to dispatch liter bottles for classrooms and smaller ones for the kids’ backpacks, according to a report by The Washington Post.

“Our whole thing was we wanted to support him – that mom and dad are here to guide you in the right direction,” Isiah’s mother, Danielle Britt told The Washington Post. “And honestly it’s awareness, especially in this area, the kids might not see in their day-to-day lives people that need help…for him to be aware that you’re very blessed and privileged and it’s good to put those resources toward a good cause.”

Britt has raised more than $14,000 so far and they’ve got plans to do a lot more for the children of Flint. According to Dougan, they’ve got enough funding to purchase enough hand sanitizer for all the 12 Flint schools.

“Once that’s fulfilled, the next step is daycares or women’s shelters,” said Dougan.